Why do dogs twitch so much when they sleep?
They’re chasing rabbits in their dreams.
Or something, its supposed to be the equivalent of REM in humans. No details on this though, can’t even remember who told me that. But when I dream that I’m chasing rabbits I twitch too.
I’d say the chasing rabbits theory has some merit.
Watching doggies run in their sleep is one of the great joys of having them around.
My parents dog twitches in his sleep but that is because he is having seizures. But he also has them when he is awake as well so I think you would of noticed by now. Tho is is harder to tell if they are mild ones.
Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan says it’s pent up energy, and considers sleep twitching abnormal. Wild dogs spend much of their day on the move. House dogs spend most of their day on the couch. His remedy is to walk or treadmill the creature. I started walking my dog every day, and not only did she stop twitching, she sleeps like a rock. YMMV.
Does not match my experience. All of my dogs have had far more “dream rabbits” after an active day of doggy heaven activity. Seemed to me they were reliving the fun they had during the day. C.M. has a larger sample than the 4 dogs I have had though.
My experience matches yours, but my dog does not chase anything. I have no idea what he is doing when twitching.
Captain sleep-barks as well - it’s hilarious because his big ugly jowls kind of self-seal around his mouth, so the bark is a muffled “mph!” and the air that comes out puffs up his lips and slowly leaks out. It’s a riot.
Yeah, the sleep barking thing is hilarious. Both my dogs do that.
Same here. We get more sleep chasing/barking on active days than non-active days.
It’s my understanding that dogs (and cats too) have hunting dreams. They can tell thanks to experiments involving brain scans, and others where the brain center that causes paralysis during sleep is destroyed which causes the animal to act out its dreams. Rats on the other hand dream of exploring. Humans appear to be unusual in having varied types of dreams.
I used to have a dog who would howl in his sleep. Not real loud, a low “OOOooooOOOoooo”
25 years of cats. Most of them do it, too.
My late Black Lab would often spend all day with me in the pool. Come nighttime, he’d fall fast asleep-and be observed moving his feet in a slow rhythmic swimming motion, including spreading his webbed Lab feet.
Another check in for more twitchy dreams on a busy day than otherwise.
We have feet twitchies, and this weird crying bark that is muffled by floppy jowls. mrrrf, rf,rf,rf,rf…
Mine either. My dog has a very active life and still twitches when he’s sleeping sometimes.
He also sleep howls occasionally. Scared the shit out of me a couple of times when he did it in the middle of the night while sleeping in our bedroom.
Maybe he’s running away from the rabbits 
My brothers and I have always said there are two different dreams dogs have - the good one and the bad one, which are probably the dog chasing something (good) or the dog being chased (bad).
Yeah, sometimes you can tell Captain is having the bad dog dream. However, given his personality, he probably always has the bad dog dream. He’s something of a miserable creature.